Communication failure in the prehospital response to major terrorist attacks: lessons learned and future directions

Communication is key in efficient disaster management. However, in many major incidents, prehospital communication failure led to insufficient upscaling, safety concerns for the emergency responders, logistical problems and inefficient disaster management.

A review of medical reports and news articles of mass-casualty terrorist attacks was performed using PubMed-archived and (non-)governmental reports. The terrorist attacks in Tokyo 1995, Oklahoma 1995, Omagh 1998, New York 2001, Myyr-manni 2002, Istanbul 2003, Madrid 2004, London 2005, Oslo/Utøya 2011, Boston 2013, Paris 2015, Berlin 2016, Brussels 2016, Wuerzburg 2016, Manchester 2017, London 2017 were included.

In all mass-casualty terrorist attacks, communication failure was reported. Some failures had significant impact on casualty numbers. Outdated communication equipment, overwhelmed communication services, failure due to damaged infrastructure by the terrorist attack itself, and lack of training were the major issues. Communication failures were most commonly observed in both attacks between 1995-2009 and 2011-2017.

Communication failure was reported in all mass-casualty terrorist incidents. In several cases, communication between the different responding actors was poor or non-existing. Malfunctioning of (outdated) telecommunication services, inadequate training in the use of communication devices, unfortunate damage of telecommunication network infrastructure were also worrisome.

Despite reports of lessons learned in previous EMS responses, communication failures were still reported in most recent terrorist attacks. Governments should provide sufficient resources to equip hospitals, emergency departments, and ambulance services with (back-up) communication systems and invest in training. A European registration system is warranted. We provide proposals for improvement.